The Chronicles of Lena Luthor: The Gathering Darkness
by Lmontague421993
Summary: This is the saga of the life of Lena Luthor, the woman who would change the world for better or worse. Lena is a magician from a small village, who rises to great heights, and Kara is the princess of the Kingdom of Krypton. I have had this idea rolling around for a while, it is the love child between watching supergirl season 2/Merlin and reading too much fantasy at the same time.
1. Chapter 1

Samantha walked out of her house early in the morning, before the sun was even visible over the canopy of trees, to do her errands before the shops got too busy. She walked down the main street of the shopping district looking at the different merchants getting ready to start the day.

As she walked down past the stores and vendors her senses were assaulted by the smells, sights, and sounds of the market and she absolutely loved it, it made her forget all of the other things going on in her life and all she could focus on was everything that was assaulting her senses. However, this morning as Samantha was walking through the market something kept distracting her, she felt a presence behind her. But, she was not that worried about it, she could tell that it was not a hostile presence. Her senses were confirmed a couple of seconds later she heard a voice say, "Auntie Sam, Auntie Sam."

She knew who it was before she even turned around, when she did turn around she saw her a young boy with black hair and green eyes, running towards her. "Hi, Lex, what are you doing out of the palace this early in the morning, does your mother know that you snuck out again?"

He broke into a huge goofy grin and said, "Of course not if she did it wouldn't be called sneaking out. No, I was able to sneak past my bodyguards and get out of the palace unseen."

Samantha shook her head and said, "Your mother is going to be worried about you when she realizes that you are missing, you should go back to the palace before you get in trouble with your mother; she is not one that you want to get mad at you, trust me"

"It is okay, I already thought of that and I left a note on my bed telling her that I was going out with you."

Samantha shook her head, "Why did you have to drag me into it? Your mother is going to kill me too now. I am going to take you back to the house before she finds out and gets mad at me. Now, let's go before they realize that you are gone."

As I was about to turn and head back to the palace, he looked up at her with big round sad eyes and said, "But, Auntie Samantha, I am sick of staying in that stuffy palace all day. I like it better out here in the capital anyways, plus I have some questions I want to ask you about my mama."

She stopped and looked at him; she could not really blame him, she never liked to stay in the palace. Which is why, even though her sister-in-law had invited her to stay in the palace while she was living here, she lived in a small house at the edge of town. Even though she was technically royalty she was brought up in a small farmhouse and preferred to continue to live that way.

She sighed and said, "Fine, I won't take you back to the palace, you can come with me as I do my errands. And when I finish my errands I will tell you what you want to know, is that okay?" He smiled and nodded, the young boy seemed satisfied with this agreement; Samantha continued to walk through the streets.

After about a half an hour she had finished the last of her shopping and she started back to her house with Lex still in tow looking as happy as he could be. When they got back to her she climbed up the stairs to her house and opened the door.

It was a small house, but it was really all that she needed since she only spent about a month in the house a year, she spent most of her time at the school. She only came here for the yearly family vacation with her wife and her sister, and their kids.

It was a small four room house, just enough for her and her family to stay in. It had a room for her, one for the kids, a living room, and a kitchen. It was sparsely furnished, but it did have a few beautiful pieces of art that she had been given over the years by students and royalty alike. All and all it was a nice house, and it had a homey feel to it that the palace just didn't have.

Samantha put her stuff away in the pantry and then put on some water for tea. When she returned to the living room she saw Lex looking at her art that was hanging from the wall, she crossed the room and sat down in a chair next to him and said, "So, what is it that you want to know today, Lex."

Lex turned around, looked at Samantha and said, "Well, I realized the other day that I really do not know that much about my mama at all. So, I want to learn more about my mother. What kind of person is she, where did she grow up, what was her childhood like, how did she and my mom meet, why did she leave my mother behind…"

"Okay, slow down Lex." Samantha was really taken back, neither of his sisters had ever asked about their mother. But, that was not that surprising since his sisters had their mother, when she was still living at home. But, Lex was different, he had grown up not really knowing his mother that well since she left for prolonged periods of time, the latest being when he was only 3 years old. She had known for a while that it was only a matter a time before one of them asked the questions, so she had resolved long ago not to hold any information back from any of them concerning their mother.

"Your mama is a woman who likes her secrets, so I really don't know if I will be able to answer these questions to your satisfaction. But, I will try to answer what I can"

This seemed to disappoint him a little, but he bounced right back and said, "But you must know Auntie Sam. You know must everything about her you are her sister." Samantha knew what he was trying to do.

"Isn't this something that you should ask your mom Lex?"

He hung his head and said, "Every time that I talk about mama in front of mom she just gets all sad or mad and refuses to talk about her. Mom never says anything expect that he is an amazing guy. I never understood why she gets like that, so that why I am here. I want to find out why my mom acts like that, and where my mama is now. But, I also want to know why he can just leave us alone for so long. So, I thought I could come to you for the answers Auntie Sam."

Sa sighed, "Lex, I will tell you what you want to know. But, I think that it will be easier just to tell you his whole story, and your questions will be answered along the way. Also, I am not going to be able to answer all your questions in one sitting, it is a long story. To answer all your questions we are going to be here for a while. Is this all okay with you?"

Right away he nodded his head and said, "Yes, Auntie Sam."

"First, since we are going to be here for a while let me go get some snacks for us to eat." Samantha got up, went to the kitchen, and grabbed the tea some seed cakes. Then she came back into the parlor, sat back down in a chair beside the table, she poured some tea for Lex, and she poured some for herself, too.

Then, she took a minute to take a sip of her tea. But, just as she was about to start there came a knock at the door.

"Who is it," asked Sam.

"It is us, Aunt Samantha. Is our idiotic little brother here with you? Our mother sent us to find him" said a set of voices from the other side of the door.

She looked at Lex who shook his head so furiously it looked like it was going to spring off and ran into the other room to hide from his sisters. Samantha laughed, got up, and walked over to the door, opened it and said, "Yes, he is, he just ran into the other room. Lex, come out of there and listen to what your sisters have to say to you."

After a couple of seconds his head popped out from around the corner.

When his sisters saw they said, "You really have to stop doing this. At least wait for mom to get up and tell her that you are leaving, she is worried about you."

He hung his head, and said, "I am sorry, but I really wanted to talk to Auntie Sam, and I did not want to spend another full day in class, I mean we are on vacation."

They smiled and said, "We don't blame you, but you have to tell mom or one of the maids so we don't get worried about you; you are lucky that she just sent us she wanted to send out the guards to find you." Then, they turned to Samantha and said, "Aunt Samantha, can we please stay here with you as well. We don't want to go back to the palace either."

Samantha sighed but said, "That is fine with me, I was just about to tell Lex the story of your mama. You are more than welcome to stay as well. But, before we get into it let me send a note to your mom, so she knows where you are and won't worry for the rest of the day about you. While I do that get comfortable."

"Really, thank you Aunt Samantha, you are the greatest, we love you so much."

Then, she walked into to kitchen, grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill, and scribbled down a quick note to her sister-in-law. She rolled the parchment and tied it up then opened up the window and tied the paper to the hawk that was sitting on the window sill.

Once it took off she closed the window and walked over to one of the cabinets and grabbed two more sets of dishes and some more snacks. Then, she took them into the living room and set them down on the table.

She took another sip of her drink as the twins grabbed a couple of cakes. Then she looked at them and said, "Your mama is not a woman that likes to share that much about her personal life with others, your mom is the only person that she has ever really been truly open with. And while she might seem like a bad guy on the surface for leaving you and your mother that is not the case, she is just a very complicated woman. I also want you to remember that I do not know everything there is to know about her, there are gaps in my knowledge that only he can fill in, I will ask her to tell you herself when he gets home."

"But how can you not know everything about his life if you were her sister? And…Hey, wait a minute you are still in contact with mama, why didn't you tell us that you still talk to her." asked Lex.

His sisters rolled their eyes, as if they knew what she was going to say next. "I was not with her for every second of her life, does it look like we are joined at the hip; most of the first part of her life will be very accurate but it gets murky after she left school, and went out on her own because this was the time that we went our own separate ways. Your mother and I have different ideas about our missions in life. No, I just know that she left a few years back on some sort of trip, I only know as much about it as your mom or anyone else," answered Sam in a rather annoyed voice.

"Wow, she went to school…" Started Lex but he suddenly stopped when Samantha flashed him a reproving glare. "Sorry, Auntie Sam, I won't interrupt you anymore, I promise," he said settling down in his chair.

"Now, before I start into his story, you must understand a couple of things, a background if you will to his life. One your mother was not always as she is today; this is a critical point that most people overlook. Her early life was not much different from your own life, or that of any child," started Samantha

But, then Lex broke in again, this time she could tell that he was very annoyed, he had never particularly liked his mother for leaving right after he was born and even though she knew that the boy loved her, it was understandable for him to have some animosity towards his mother. She guessed that he refused to believe that he had anything in common with his mother, even though this made him very much like his mom. "So, she had a mother who was there for not for her."

Both the exact same moment both of his sisters kicked him, and said, "Shut up idiot and listen to Aunt Sam." Samantha felt for the boy, so she decided to go easy on him, "In matter of fact, yes Lex. But, she had it much worse off than you do, at least both of your parents are still alive, both her mother and father died before he was only nine months old. But, if you had just let me tell the story all your questions will be answered. Now, can I continue with my story?"

This answer seemed to take Lex completely surprise, and he shifted in his seat uncomfortably. Then he said, "Sorry, again, Auntie Sam, I had no idea I will be better from now on, I promise. I didn't mean to burst out like." Samantha just smiled, thinking to herself, 'He is more like his mother then he knows.'

Now, as I was saying, "She grew up outside a village that once stood about fifty leagues from here. The name of the town was Midvale."

"But, like your mama always says, it is not your birthplace or conditions you were born into that determine your destiny, it is the decisions that you make in your life. And there is no better example than your mama. The town that she grew up in, Midvale, was a tiny trading town outside of the Southern Kingdom. Most of the people there were farmers, whose families had lived there for generations, and if they were not farmers they were tradesmen.

It was the final frontier on the southern edge of the human kingdom. It was a buffer between the human kingdom and the unknown beyond. Now with that little bit of background we are ready to start into the story."

After she was done saying this, she took a sip of her drink, then she reached into her robes, and pulled out a key. Then she walked over to the wall, tapped on it a couple of time, and a section of the wall slid back and revealed a small door. When she inserted the key, the door swung open and showed the contents of the safe. There was some money, a couple of gems, a scroll or two, and many bottles of a clear liquid. She pulled out several of the vials and set them on the table.

Then, as if guessing the question on their minds she said, "These, you guys, are experiences, or to be more exact my and other memories of your mother's life. I was able to get these memories with the help of a spell that was ironically invented by her while she was at school, this is a very quick, simple, and accurate way to keep records or extract information from people. It was developed by your mother because she is first and foremost an inventor, and this provided a fantastic way to pass on firsthand knowledge of events."

Then she picked up one of the vials and poured all the liquid into a scrying dish, which was sitting on the table of the low table in front of the couch, then said, "With these we will actually see the memories of the people who witnessed the events of your mother's life, we will witness what they saw, and see what really happened. You will get firsthand knowledge of your mama from the people who knew her best. These people include your mama, your mom, your aunt, and me, along with many other people who knew her throughout her life. You will have the thoughts and memories of these people passed straight onto you as they remembered them when I asked them about their time with your mother. Just so you know not all these people have the same views about your mother, you must keep that in mind. There is no way to remove the bias of the people, or the inconsistencies of memory that were recalled sometimes years after the fact. But, anyways, are you ready?"

They slowly nodded their heads and peered into the basin. "Well than get ready to the story of your mother." And with that she poured the first vial into the bowl.


	2. Chapter 2

"The first person that we will hear from is your grandfather, Lionel. He was not a perfect man, actually anything but, and even though Lena never knew the man during her childhood, he would have a significant impact on her life. This memory comes from the time of his death. This is background may be boring but it is necessary, and relatively short," said Samantha as they peered into the scrying bowl.

As Lionel lay there in that bed slowly dying he saw my entire life flash before my eyes in an instant. I know that everyone says that before they die, and it is a cliché, but I have to say that over one thousand is a lot to take in at once. All the mistakes and failures of my life all coming back to me at the worse possible moment.

Lionel thought to him that no one is truly immortal, everyone has a finite existence no matter how long it may seem. It is unnatural to be an immortal, without morality people don't really live it just an accumulation of experiences with no meaning to them. It is only with the promise, or fear, of death that people truly start living, there is a beginning to life and there has to be an end someday it is the natural order of life.

"I saw my first steps, in the royal palace. We might not have been royalty, but I spent most of my young life in the palace. I remembered sitting out under the world tree with my mother reading me stories of heroes and Gods. Then, I saw my teenage years, when I gained fame throughout the kingdom as a prodigy, the kind that comes along once in a generation, which is even more impressive when your race is immortal. Then, I saw the nights that I would stay up all night worrying what people would think of me if I failed in something. I remembered the day that I got married to my first wife, who was the First Princess of the land, it was a majestic celebration that I was told had not been seen since the early days of the elves when we danced with the Gods themselves. Then, I remembered the day that I was named heir to my mother, which was one of the best and worst days in my life.

After that my life started to spiral out of control. My daughter was born with a horrible illness, and the doctors only gave her about 25 years at the most to live. Then, almost right after my mother started dying, even though she was supposedly an "immortal" being. They were everything to me and after that my life was never the same. I remembered starting to delve deeper and deeper into the dark arts in hopes of finding a way to bring my mother back and to make sure that none of the other people I loved would die. Because of my research I missed the birth of my son and daughter. I remember the day that I made the breakthrough and learned the secret to what people would later call the true immortality of the Gods.

I remember the day that we turned ourselves into monsters, it was a nice sunny, calm day in autumn as the leaves were just starting to change. This change my wife abandoned me, because of what I had become and what I had turned my daughter into. I remembered the day that we were run out of the city, and how from that day forward I struggled to find a counter spell for what I had done. I remember the Great Schism, and the death and destruction that it rained down upon the world; but much worse than any of that my wife was killed, and my son maimed during that war.

I would spend the next eight hundred years mourning the death of my family and hating what I had become. But, I tortured myself and remained with the people that I had created. Hoping that I could lead them down a different path and in hopes of finding a cure for what I had done and preventing them from doing too much damage and taking them down with me. I remember the day that I finally could not take it anymore and I left my people behind and returned to the world of the living.

I remember trying to die, not eating for weeks at a time only to be compelled by my body to kill. I remember the day I happened to meet a human woman. She was tasked with killing me, because I was viewed as the greatest threat the world had ever known. I remembered that I easily defeated her, and I had my sword at her throat however even though I held her life in my hands she remained defiant and still did not back down. I believe it was for that reason that I could not kill her, I later realized that she had the same fire in her eyes that I once had when I was young. Even though she was a child compared to me I fell in love with her instantly.

I guess this would be the second major turning point in my life, it was then that I decided that even a monster like me could be happy if I tried. So, I faked my own death and went with her back to her old village. I had her cut off my force powers, while I lost my immortality, I was more than willing to give up my magic and my immortality to spend one mortal lifetime with this woman.

I remembered the day that my second daughter, Lena, was born. I did live happily for all a year, before the Empire found me, and attacked the village with the humans. And finally, my wife died in the battle, but not before taking down the king, and I was seriously wounded in the battle. So, now here I am, dying unable to repair my wounds."

Lionel looked at the baby sitting next to me, she was smiling, playing with my hair, and shaking her head, almost like she understood everything I had just said. Lena was small, being just over a year old now, but she looked just like her mother for which he was glad, he really didn't want her to look like him.

She had jet black hair and forest green eyes, they reminded him of my home the forest, thinking about it was almost unnatural how deep the green was. The only thing that remained him of himself was the alabaster color of her skin.

Though of course she did not understand what Lionel was saying but for some reason he just felt compelled to say it. He looked at the old women who was holding my son and said, "Take the last little bit of my life energy and seal his powers away. I do not wish my daughter to be burdened the same way that I have been burden for all these years. It is not his fault that her father was a monster, isn't that right Lena."

The little girl laughed and grabbed his hand. Lionel's mother-in-law nodded and said, "Are you sure that you want to go through with this, I am sure that my daughter would not mind waiting for you on the other side for a little while. I could undo her spell and release your powers, I can still do at least that much, even in my old age."

He turned and laid his head back down on the pillow, and laughed, "Oh, I told her a million times that she and I only had this life, but she did not believe me right up until the end. No, if there is an afterlife I will not be in the same place as her. The gods would never let me go to the same place as her. I treaded on their powers one too many times, and they are a vengeful sort."

"But, I can still help you regain your powers, so that you might live on for your daughter," she said.

"Please don't tempt me, you have no idea how much I wish to regain my powers and continue to live, I guess it is just human nature. But, I am not worthy enough to live; if I could I would bring her back. She was as pure as the first snow on the White Mountains. I on the other hand are as dirty as the worse ten men combined; no, I do not deserve to life, my time to pass for this world is long overdue. It is only natural; all things must come to an end. Even, if I did get my powers back, I do not want to compound my sins by taking another life to save my own. Plus, I have lived more over these past three years, then I have in the past eight hundred years combined. And despite all my mistakes I think that I have lived a decent life, I have experienced so much more than most people. It is time"

The women leaned over me and said, "My daughter was right, you are an idiot. My daughter said that you are one of the greatest, kindest, most generous men that she had ever known. She told me that you hate yourself, but she also said that it was the old you who did those things, and that is not the man that you are now. She truly believed that people could change, and you proved her right. For as long as I have known you, you have been nothing but kind and helpful to everyone that you have met."

Lionel smiled, "Thank you for trying to comfort me. You remind me a lot of my mother, perhaps you are her reincarnated. She too was kind and regal, even to people she did not like that much. Did I ever tell you about the time that she had to entertain the king of the dwarves, and she ended up dumping all of her wine on his head?"

The old women laughed and nodded, "Yes, that is perhaps one of my favorite stories that you have ever told. Though I find it weird that you believe in reincarnation, but you don't believe in the afterlife. You truly are a man of contradictions."

He smiled again, she was right of course. Just then, he started to spasm and cough up more blood. His body was failing him, he knew that he did not have that much time left. He grabbed the her hand and said, "Go and gather the stuff that you need for the spell. I don't have that much time left, my life energy is almost gone and if it dips much lower than you will not be able to perform the spell."

She nodded, placed Lena on his chest and ran out of the house. He looked up at his daughter, he rubbed her hair; she really did look like her mother. But, those emerald green eyes had the same hard look that mine had, he guessed that was another similarity they shared. I had never thought about it before but most of my race had this same look in their eyes. They were very hard and worn, but that is to be expected with a dying race like ours. All the people that I helped to give immorality to whether they wanted to admit it or not, had lost a lot over the years. All of them had lost our family, friends, and of course we had all lost our normal lives.

As Lionel continued to stare into those vast green eyes, he saw his home again, and the woods that I use to play in all day long. For one small moment I wondered what his life would have been like if he had not been through the change. But, he quickly banished the thought from my mind because he looked at the baby on my chest and remembered that if it was not for that then he would not have Lena's mother and she would not be here.

And with that Lionel fell back off to a fitful sleep. The next thing that he remembered he was outside under the stars, and he remember that they had never looked so beautiful before. He was lying on the ground in the middle of a large magical circle with my daughter of the opposite end. He could hear his mother in law talking to her husband.

But, when they both saw that he was awake they came over to me and said, "Is there anything you want us to do for you before we start the spell."

He nodded and said, "First, take me and bury me up in the mountains. In the spot in between the two tallest peaks, that is where me and your daughter first met. I built a tomb up there, please lay me there; and if you don't mind please bury your daughter there as well. Second, don't tell my daughter about me or magic until it is necessary, and never under any conditions undo the spell. I don't want her to be burdened by her power. Also, if you think that the time has come, and she needs some power to protect something that she holds dear give her my sword and tell her to come and visit my tomb. Also, I leave all my stuff to her. Oh, yeah your daughter wanted me to tell you that you can have the farmhouse, we just finished it before the battle started."

They nodded, and said, "Despite what you think, you were a good man; our daughter thought so and so do we. You saved the lives of everyone in the village with your deeds more than once."

Lionel laughed and said, "What does it matter now anyways, in only a matter of time I will be dead. It is too late for any regrets."

The shook their heads, nodded solemnly and said, "We will begin the spell now, it will all be over soon."

He nodded, and they moved to the other sides of the circle and began to chant. Lionel could feel the last of his power start too slip slowly away. As the light started to fade from his eyes, he thought to himself, "Why did they have to say that I me, they really did influence me. I am starting to have some regrets about my life and decisions. Maybe they are right, maybe I don't deserve to go to the deepest circles of hell. I have done some good things in my life, maybe I will see all of the people that I thought were lost to me forever, mother, sister, my wives, and daughter. Well, I guess I can have those thoughts as I die, I could have worse I suppose"

And with that, he felt the weight and pain disappear; it was almost as he was hovering in mid-air. Then, he realized that he had not gone into the afterlife, or if it was the afterlife it sure looked very similar and boring. Then, he saw his daughter pointing in his current position and my mother in law was staring at me and asked her husband, "What happened to him? Why is there glowing light above him?"

Her husband just looked at the light, and said, "We were right all along he is a different person. He must have realized this as well in the end, because if I remember correctly only people who believe that they are worthy are able to ascend."

That was when it hit him, yes that must have been what happened through the combination of sacrificing himself to protect Lena and accepting his life and the decisions that he made, not just the bad but the good as well he must have taken the necessary to reclaim his soul. He moved over to where they were still standing staring at me, or the ball of light that now represented my immortal soul.

Lionel reached out and touched each of them with my mind. He did not know whether they would understand what he was trying to tell them or not but hopefully they did. Then, he turned to the mountains, he thought to himself it was a good thing that he put those wards around my tomb. Now, the tomb can hold his spirit, and he just might have a chance to talk to Lena before he passed on, he would just have to wait for her to get old enough to understand what I need to tell her.

At least that was a small victory, 'Someday Lena I will I get a chance to see you when you are all grown up.'


	3. Chapter 3

"Okay, that was the death of Lena's father. Now, we will jump forward about fourteen years, to when Lena was fifteen years old. Up until this point in time Lena had lived a normal life, but her story is about to change from a story about the simple life of a farmer to that of one of the biggest names of our time. In a few weeks from this memory starts some rapid changes which would completely change the trajectory of her life forever."

Lena knelt to pick up a potato that she dropped on the ground. Her grandfather and her had just finished harvesting the last of the vegetables before the first frost of the year destroyed the crops. They had started a little under a week ago and just finished today, which was a good thing because winter seemed to be coming early this year. It has started to get cold at night, and they would probably have the first frost any day now. All they had just about finished loading the last of the vegetables into the wagon, so they can bring them into market to sell, which in turn would allow them to buy everything that they need for the upcoming winter.

She is a fifteen-year-old girl, but there was outwardly nothing special about her for her age. She is just your typical teenage girl about 5"5, small, with black hair and what has been described by many people as sylvan green eyes. Just your normal teenage girl, at the on the outside, indeed what Lena prided herself on was not the external but the internal. She was extremely smart for her age, not that it mattered all that much when you were living on a farm.

It was not that she didn't love life on the farm but there has always been a part of her that has longed for something more; she had always dreamed about doing something great like the heroes of old, who appeared in the stories that were told at the village tavern. She yearned for more knowledge and adventure, she wanted to go search the world, and learn everything that the world had to offer.

She sighed because she knew that it was never going to happen, so she turned her mind back to the work that has to be done. For some reason every year when she finished the harvesting she was so glad; it is like thirty pounds had been taken off her shoulders. It was not the physical part of the harvest, no it was the worry that they would not get it all in time or something would go wrong, and they would not have enough money to make it through the winter.

"This should be all of them," said Lena handing him the rest of the potatoes that I had just dug up "Thanks Lena," replied her grandfather. Her grandfather was the best, he was the father of her mother, a man in his sixties, greying hair, and was starting to develop a slight hunch. He had lived and farmed this land with his wife for his whole life, just like his father before him and his father before him; he was a farmer through and through, but he was so smart and quick on his feet. Lena had come to live with him fourteen years to the month, after both of her parents died. Lena had only been one at the time, so she didn't even remember her parents.

"Papa, can I go into the hills for a little while? I finished all of my work, and there is still a little while until it gets dark," Lena asked while handing him the bushel basket of potatoes. "Sure, but I need you to see if you can catch something for the stew that your grandmother is making for supper. Is that okay with you?"

"Yeah, sure, I will try. See you in a little while," she said as she grabbed her bow and quiver from the corner of the barn and ran out the door, "See you later." Lena really enjoyed just sitting in the hills for prolonged periods of time, reading books and just staring forest around the hills, and just thinking about stuff. The hills surrounding the farm were such a delightful place to sit, think, and develop new ideas; it was quiet and peaceful.

The farm was in the end of a small glen so naturally it was surrounded by hills and forests on each side. It was a very pleasant place to live, it was the kind of place that people from the city dream of having a house. So, Lena would end up sitting under the trees, or by the waterfall for hours at a time thinking and reading; when her farm duties would allow her some free time.

So, she started to run up to her favorite spot in the hills, darting around trees and jumping over the rocks that blocked her way. She moved quickly and gracefully through the obstacles. Her spot was at the base of one of the hills on the east side of the glen. There was a large oak tree that sat at the side of a cool, fast moving mountain steam; there was just enough noise but not so much that it was distracting. She wanted nothing more than to just sit for a little while after the long week of harvesting but first she had to go and get the meat for supper. So, she drew an arrow and strung the bow and set off into the forest to catch something for supper.

As she walked through the forest she followed one of the many game trails, one which followed the river, deeper into the woods. She had followed this path many times as a kid; her grandfather had taught her how to hurt at an early age, he did not believe things like gender should define a person. For this she was eternally grateful, there were many of the girls in the village who were just expected to marry and have children, but her grandfather had always encouraged her to learn everything that she could.

As she continued to walk deeper and deeper into the forest Lena started to see signs of a group of rabbits there was fur and dropping. She knelt to look at some of the secretions, when she picked at the secretions she saw that they were still warm, which meant that they were no more than an hour old. So, Lena moved more cautiously off the path and into the trees.

This forest got dense the further that one went into the forest, exponentially so in fact. It was tough to quietly move through the forest without making noise, yet Lena knew these woods like the back of her hand, so she was able to slip through the undergrowth like a specter. As she peeked around one of the trees Lena spotted them sitting under a tree eating some grass, there were two of them sitting about two feet apart. Lena stopped pulled another arrow out and let it rest up against the tree. Then, she pulled the string back and lined up one of the rabbits with the arrow and let it fly. Then, as soon as the first arrow was fired, in the blink of an eye, she picked up the other arrow and let loose that one within two seconds.

She hit both rabbits, but one of them got away. Lena sighed and walked over to where the rabbits had been sitting he picked up the one rabbit that she had killed instantly. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the other arrow of her eye and walked over to pick up the other arrow only to see that it was broken, and trail of blood ran away from it.

She must have missed its vital organ and she was too close and she shot straight through the rabbit and hit the tree root behind it, and it broke. Well, so much for that arrow Lena thought to herself. She was going to have to make some more arrows before the next time that she went hunting.

Now, Lena started to retrace her steps to the edge of the forest. Lena sat down in the shade of the huge oak tree and looked out over the glen. It was high enough that you can even see the village, which sat on the bank of the river. By the time that she got there she could see that the sun started to lower over the valley. As she settled down in a gap in the giant roots of the tree and pulled out a small notebook something caught her eye, there was a huge eagle flying over the peak of the mountains far off in the distance.

Maybe it is just Lena's adventurous nature, but the eagle awoke the feeling of adventure in her that was running through her mind earlier in the day; she started to think about how at times she wished that she could fly away with eagle on a great adventure through world, push the boundaries that no one had ever thought possible. Lena have lived on this farm for as long as she could remember but something in her wanted more out of life and knew that if she could leave the farm she could find what she was looking for a challenge and adventure.

She had thought of it for years, about what it would be like to leave. But every time she thought about it she had to think about what it would do to her grandparents if she left. They were counting on her to take over the farm when they got too old to do it. But that did not stop her from dreaming about what it would be like to meet the kings of men in their massive castles, see the beautiful Elven cities within the Great Forest, and feast with the dwarf lords in their halls of gold. But, reality slapped Lena and reminded her of the great life that I have on the farm. She have everything that she ever needed, and it is rewarding in a different way and this was the life that she born into and there were some things that cannot be overcome.

As sitting there thinking about all this stuff she heard grandmother far off in the distance calling her name, "Lena, Lena, where are you? Get down here I want to finish supper sometime today. If you don't get me any meat soon it will not be ready if time for us to eat tonight." And with slap of reality she reluctantly tucked the notebook into her pocket and heaved herself up and headed back down to the farmhouse.

When Lena got back to the house, which stood at the middle of the farm and was just a simple two floor house, she opened the door and saw her grandmother in the kitchen over the fire stirring what she assumed was stew for dinner. She gave the rabbits to Grammy who said, "It took you long enough to get here, I hope you weren't goofing off again."

Her grandmother was the exact opposite of her husband, Lena believed the only way that they survived was because she was always on their asses. She was always a strict hard ass, if she saw Lena sitting around she would mostly likely smack me in the back of the head. Nothing Lena ever did was good enough for her, but she was a decent person and always took care of Lena through thick and thin; no matter the circumstances.

As Lena turned to walk away she said, "Supper will be ready in about two hours, but please stay nearby because it will not be too long."

Lena just nodded turned and left the kitchen and headed out to the yard, wondering what she could do to pass the time until supper was ready. She had already practiced with her bow today, she could go read but she decided that maybe it would be better for her to practice her sword fighting instead before it got too cold for it. So, she started out to the barn, behind one of the piles of hay she picked out one of the many sticks that she has made over the years to look like a sword. When I turned around to the door Samantha, my cousin, was standing in the doorway of the barn looking at me.

Sam looked nothing like me, she had chestnut brown hair with hazel eyes, and she was a good couple of taller than Lena with a darker skin tone. She was about a year younger than Lena as well, she came to live their grandparents maybe six months after she did so Lena had grown up with her so they were more like sisters than cousins.

"Hey, Lena isn't it great that you finished all of the harvesting today. Now, the work will not be as hard until next spring. The only thing left that we have to do is to go into town and buy the rest of the supplies that we need for the winter."

"Yeah, are you done helping Grammy yet? You want to go out and practice for a little while?" Lena said to her. In her mind there is no replacement to sparring with a real person, there is something about the movements of a human that just can't be reproduced by inanimate objects.

"Sure, let's go up to the hill by the steam."

Lena smiled, "Great minds think alike I guess.

Lena tossed her a sword and they both left the barn and ran up to the hill. Samantha used a long staff that resembled a spear, while Lena used what she typically did which was two short blades; they weren't quite daggers, but they really couldn't be classified as swords either. Lena found that these swords gave her a far greater range of movement, plus it is still hard for Sam to read the movements of these smaller, quicker, swords.

They had been practicing together for a long time, Lena guessed that this was her way of getting a little bit more excitement out of life without putting herself in actually danger or leaving the farm. They had been practicing for as long as they could both hold a sword.

They always start off by just warming up a little; Lena always use a balanced form of sword fighting which combines the near impregnable defense with quick counterattacks and precision strikes. While Sam uses a very aggressive form which takes advantage of her weapon's power and range.

But, Lena had learned over the years to wait and tire her out. Her weapon might be powerful, but it makes her tired very easily, if Lena could just tire her out Sam was relatively easy to beat. So, Lena just waited her out then she could strike and defeat her.

After we finished with that we moved onto several sparring matches. They always play the best two out of three rounds, and the person who wins the most matches in the day wins. We had gotten about half way through the fifth round then they heard the dinner bell sounding from the farmhouse.

That meant that supper was being put on the table right now, and it would be ready to eat in five minutes. So, they started to head down to the farm. This way they would get back to the farm, hide the swords away, and get in to dinner before their grandparents noticed that we have been playing with swords. As they were heading down to the farmhouse Sam asked, "Lena, how do you beat me every time? I practice every day that we don't fight, and I am bigger than you, but I still don't beat you. There must be a reason that you can continue to beat me time after time."

"Don't worry Sam, it does not matter how good you are, you could be the most skilled swordsman in the world, but you would still be at a disadvantage against me. This is because I have tailored my style exactly to counteract your style. In other words, my style is perfectly suited to counteract your style; it doesn't matter that you have more power or are bigger than I am.

Your style is to rush in and take advantage of the power and range of your weapon and height. But, it takes a lot out of you, so, with my style I carefully block your attacks with minimal energy wasted by me; if you notice I step just far enough out of the way when I dodge to miss the staff not one step more. Then, when you are tired I strike hitting one of your vital points.

I would suggest coming up with a fresh style, one that is quicker and does not use such big sweeping motions or find a way to overcome the limitations of your style. Either way you must do something to counteract the advantage in style. Once you do that you can focus on getting stronger. But, until that time it will not matter how strong you get," Lena answered. Sam nodded, "I assumed you learned this from all of the books that you are always reading." Lena was about to answer as they started back down to the farmhouse but just then their grandfather came up the hill.

So, we quickly tossed the swords behind a nearby rock, so he would not see them. When he saw them he said, "Didn't you guys hear the bell, supper is ready, get down and wash up in the well. Make sure that you don't keep your grandmother waiting, you know how she gets when you are not on time for supper," Then, he turned around on the path and headed back down toward the farmhouse.

"Boy, that was close, for a second there I thought that papa was going to find the swords and get mad at us again, like he did the last time that he caught us fighting with the swords," said Sam, as they picked up the swords.

It was not that he was a mean person, or just enjoyed ruining their fun, he usually let them do whatever they wanted and encouraged them but for some reason he just didn't like them playing with swords. Lena had to believe that it was because of the way that her parents died, but for whatever reason he got mad when and if he caught them playing with swords. The first and last time that he caught them playing with swords he got so angry with us and sent us both to our rooms and burned the swords in the fire.

Then, later that night Jared had crept downstairs and heard Papa and Grammy talking, Papa was saying, "She has too much of her parents in her and you remember what happened to them. They enjoyed adventure too much, we made a promise to them and I don't want Lena to become a…." But, she never got to hear the end of the conversation because she knocked over a tub and it had made a huge noise. So, she had been forced to run up the stairs to avoid being seen by her grandparents.

Ever since that time Sam and Lena had kept the fact that we still sword fight a secret from both their grandparents. By the time the two got back to the barn, put the swords away, washed up, and walked to the house supper was already on the table. Lena was right they were having stew with some bread that her grandmother had made earlier in the day. They ate supper in relative quiet because we were all tired from working the entire day to get ready for winter.

When they finished supper, Lena helped clean the dishes with Sam. Then, she went out to the barn to feed the animals and make sure that they were all safe in the stables. They had two cows, a couple of chickens, and a horse. Well, really the horse is Sam's but that is a story for another day. While Lena was doing this, Sam went to take the dry clothes down from the line and bring them inside to be folded and put away.

When, Lena finished she went up to my room to sit and think for a little while. Lena just liked to sit and read or write when she finished with her work for the day. Lena knew she was lucky, most of the people in the town can't read or write, let alone have scrolls and paper to practice on. But, her grandfather insisted that Sam and Lena learn to read and write from a very early age.

From an early age Lena had loved it, and reading and writing helped her to think, it sooths her because it is so relaxing and refreshing for me to do something different from working in the fields. She was always particularly interested in reading the histories of the world, because even through some of them were from over a hundred years ago, if you look at their broad themes you can find things that are still relevant to life today. She also loved reading about different inventions and advancements and the how they were developed and created. But, she really enjoyed learning about just about anything, it really didn't matter in the end it was all interconnected anyways.

As Lena was reading one of her scrolls and drawing in the margins Sam came up stairs to her room. I can't believe it can't see leave me alone. "What do you want Sam?" Lena asked. Lena knew that it was sippy, but she couldn't help it she am trying to relax, Sam knew that that she liked to spend time by herself reading and writing. In fact she liked some time to myself more than most people; she liked the silence.

"Can't I just come to talk to my cousin?" asked Sam, feigning innocence.

"Yeah, right Sam, what do you want? I am not in the mood to be playing your games. Just tell me what you want and get out of here. I would like to study in peace and quiet if you don't mind."

Sam gave an exasperated sign and said, "You caught me, I would like to see the scroll on weapons fighting that you have been writing."

"Ha, I knew she wanted something, and I should have guessed that you wanted that scroll."

She had been working on a scroll of my own, a scroll about different weapons and the techniques that go with them from all the cultures that she could find. She had done a lot of research into the various parts of weapons fighting from all the histories that they had in the house; and even found some in the market and bought them herself. Lena have also spent a lot of time taking to Horst, the village blacksmith about the making and designs of weapons. But, she still had not finished it yet, and Lena really didn't want anyone to look at it until it is completely done.

"Sam, I don't know…" Lena start to say, but, Saminterrupted her and said, "Please, Lena, please, just let me borrow the scroll for the day, and try to find some technique that might have a chance to beat you. I will give the scroll back to you tomorrow."

Just as she was going to tell Sam that she could borrow Papa called up the stairs, "Lena, Sam, where are you? We are all going to go into town tomorrow. Sam, you will need to help your grandmother sell the vegetables at the market. Lena I will need you to get horseshoes, and a few other things in town. We need to get new shoes for the horses get about five when you see Horst. We also need some other items from the town. I will leave you a list by the front door."

"But, Papa, I don't like to go into town, you know that," Lena yelled back down to him.

"Oh, yeah I forgot that you don't like to go into town. Fine, then you can stay here on the farm and do my work tomorrow. You will have to split, cut, and stack all of the wood outside. Then, there are some repairs that need to be made to the house. If you do all of this then you don't have to go to town tomorrow."

"Fine, Fine, I get what you are saying papa, I will go into town tomorrow with Sam and Grammy."

I turned to Sam, tossed her the scroll and said, "You can borrow the scroll for the night, but I want it back by tomorrow morning."

Sam caught the scroll, and said, "Sure, Lena, anything you want. I will drop it in your room before we leave for town. Thank you for letting me borrow this."

As Sam left the room, Lena turned back to the book she had been reading about the technique that the dwarves used to develop their tunnels. After an hour she put the scroll back into its shelf. By this time, the day had really caught up with her, Lena was so tired that she just went to my bed and collapsed without even worrying to take off her clothes.

She am going to have to wake up early tomorrow, the market in town opened at 7:00 and her grandmother liked to get there right when it opens. Even though she didn't like going into the village, there are some good things about going in. She got to see some people that she only see once in a while. But, she had to say that is also the dreadful thing with going into the village.

There are two groups of people in the village. There are the people who are nice to me, these people are few. Most of the people in the village either stare at her, talk behind her back, or completely ignore her. She didn't know why, she had never done anything that bad to any of them but for some reason this was worse than if they openly hated her. At least if they did it openly Lena would know why they did not like me. It was not as if they did this to anyone else in the family, it was a mystery and sometimes she just did not want to deal with it; and with that she dropped off into sleep.


End file.
